What Keeps Africa From Developing?

There is a one-word answer to what destroys societies like termites destroy houses. Can you guess what it is?

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[jacobmacleod]

My HS computer science teacher who was from Nigeria would say: ‘In America, corruption is under the table, in Mexico, corruption is over the table, in Nigeria, the table is included’

[phritz]

My friend from Zimbabwe said that to me when we were college mates. She explained that Americans would raise money for Africa but then the government in her country would withhold the help from its people.

[auriel]

Q : "What Keeps Africa From Developing?"
A : "Africans"

[socrates]

I remember arriving at one airport in a West African country and giving my passport to the immigration officer for stamping the arrival visa, and he asked me:"Do you think the stamp is going to put itself in your passport?"

[quercusrubra]

"The king establishes the land by justice,
But he who receives bribes overthrows it." (Proverbs 29:4) NKJV

[sean]

God created all men equal, but not all cultures are equally good.

[emmyreturn]

You are correct sir Dennis. I'm a proud Nigerian but our leaders are as corrupt as Hell.

[Nordic_Sky]

Top 3 reasons: 1) corruption, 2) corruption, and 3) corruption.

[stacyliddell]

As a South African I have to admit you are 100% correct. The corruption of our government and institutions is out of this world.

[zoch]

I'm pretty sure the answer is Africans.

[manusha]

It's not merely government corruption, its more insidious than that. People are fully complicit, they vote purely on a Tribal basis no matter how dire the consequences. And corruption is not censured, its accepted and even expected! Sad truth, but we all create the societies in which we live by our action or inaction.

[Bat-Twenty-Two]

Growing up in Nigeria, the custom was to hand some money over to the police when they pull you over so you can both go about your day. That was in one of the more civilized countries in Africa.

[HabitualButtonPusher]

Africa keeps Africa down. Kadafi (however you spell it) tried to form an African Union will their oil capital. No one could agree to even get a committee formed. Imagine how things could have been if the continent organized, unified and formed some stability. It could have been an economic powerhouse.

[ak]

How does that explain 5000 years of no progress? Other parts of the world -- Europe, India, China, Russia and later the US -- all had serious painting, music, literature, science, archipecture, engineering...Africa -- never. So its not just corruption.

[hi-line]

corruption is the symptom, we all know what the cause is

[sirchadiusmaximusiii]

We all know the answer. It’s not limited to one place either.

[johnchandler]

It's worldwide. A friend who was a Viet Nam veteran said that in Saigon and other cities he saw government run stores whise shelves were stocked with Care Packages that had been donated by U.S. citizens. Their government took them on arrival straight to these stores and sold them. The whole operation was a waste.

[gabayvip]

Corruption??
You said nothing.
Corruption is a symptom not a cause.
You still need to figure out why some societies are more corrupt than others.

[mattyswan]

As Nora Desmond would say: "do you want me to tell you?"

[RADIUMGLASS]

Some societies are tribal and they will never evolve out of that mindset.